Waiting for Dad
by FlightAngel
Summary: A scene where Haku is waiting for Zabuza in a sailor's store. Cute fluff in Haku's childhood.


Waiting for Dad

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By FlightAngel

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Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters does not belong to me, though this story does.

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Haku was a very patient boy. He sat, legs curled together as they hung beneath him, along the edge of the boat deck, waiting for his Zabuza-san to come home from the latest mission.

"You're too young." The jounin had said gruffly when the small boy had clung to his pant-leg, pleading to go along with him, "Wait until you can properly throw multiple kunai at three different targets at once before you even consider going along with me."

So the small child, being that he was a tool and not really much of anything else, obediently watched as the older man boarded the rather rickety-looking boat and disappeared into the mist as he sat on the boat deck. Where he still sat now.

Humming to himself as he recited the deadly pressure points his dear mother had taught him, he swung his legs over the cool water as several of the peasants living near the shore stared at him. What was this strange little boy doing here all alone when it was almost dark?

"Hey," A gruff sailor shouldered a pack of potatoes as he leaned down to observe the doe-eyed boy. "You lost, kid?"

Haku, who was still humming, looked up with his large brown eyes and cheerful smile and sang, "No, no, waiting for my Zabuza-san to come home!" The sailor cocked his head in perplexity. The kid said he was waiting for someone, but there weren't any other unusual people around and it really _was_ getting pretty dark. If he was caught outside when the sun fully set, the wolves would get the poor child for sure.

"Maybe you can wait in my store," He replied roughly after careful consideration, "You can wait for your Dad in there." Haku furrowed his eyes for a moment before carefully nodding. Zabuza-san had told him if anyone asked who he was or why he was waiting he was to say that he was waiting for Zabuza-san, who was his 'Dad'. For a moment, a pang of deep sadness thundered through the small child's fragile form as painful moments flashed through his mind—_Dad, lying in the ice, eyes widening as his mouth opened in a forever-scream, blood spilt everywhere, no life left­_—until he finally arrived at the nice sailor's store.

It smelt of fish and salt and potatoes, but it was enough to make Haku happy enough to plop himself down on a foreign chair to continue humming his pressure points. The sailor went to the backroom to put the potatoes away as Haku stared at the posters on the wall, the huge piles of vegetables and fish lining the stained rows of shelves, the dirt-covered floor poorly hidden by a small red rug that was too small for the room. The Village Hidden in the Mist was so poor. People were starving on the sides of the streets, even the 'rich' felt the clenching of hunger tighten around their stomachs, and it was rare to find any abundant amount of food anywhere. This sailor must be very lucky to own so much surplus.

"It's a doomed place," Zabuza-san had said after a particularly brutal mission while Haku helped bandage his arm, "No point trying to save it when it's going to go all down the drain anyways..." Haku had just nodded as he happily tied the white linen over the bleeding cut, over and under, over and under... "So remember that, Haku, don't try to get too attached to anything-- everything is pretty much destined to fall one time or another. It's easier to not care about anything and not suffer then it it is care and perhaps die in your depression later."

"Yes," Haku had said obediently.

The Sailor came back from inside the storage room and eyed the small boy uneasily. He was just sitting there, humming to himself in that sort-of creepy, nonchalant way, and the man didn't know what to do. "Are you hungry?" He said, abruptly, "I have some cooked sweet potatoes."

Haku's eyes lit up immediately. Zabuza-san said if anyone tried taking him in to just play along. Eating sweet potatoes was 'playing along', right? "Potatoes? Yah!" Sliding off the chair he pranced over to where the sailor offered him the cooked vegetable on a stick. Carefully blowing on the hot flesh of the sweet potato, he instinctively checked for poisons or traps before taking a bite. "Mm!" He swallowed and laughed sweetly, "This is good! Thanks, mister!"

The sailor smiled, adjusting his cap. The kid was pretty cute. It was ok if he stayed here as he waited for his dad, right? Haku continued to consume his sweet potato and started up his humming again. The song he'd picked up on the road when he'd heard a young woman singing it as she had passed them. It was a pure, sweet tone that was simple enough for the small child to remember and low-tone enough that Zabuza didn't get overly annoyed by its music.

After finishing his eating, Haku took a new interest in the store itself. Food and such were pretty important to a ninja because they were the basic necessities-- you couldn't hold a kunai or throw a needle if you were practically lying on the floor, starving to death. As he observed the foods, he pulled out a checklist in his mind. Things like potatoes and sweet potatoes were filling, but not that nutritious, while carrots, apples, peaches, all those fruits, were pretty nutritious, though not very filling. Nuts and dried meat jerky were necessary for protein, while eggs were good but hard to carry around. Breads had carbohydrates but expired easily, so carrying around brown rice was better, because all it needed was a pan and some water to cook it with and tasted good with almost any sort of vegetable you could find scouting around an area.

"Hey," the sailor said as he was writing down his gross income in his checkbook-list-thing, "Why did your dad leave you there on the dock?" Haku was distractingly trying to remember how to tell a good cabbage from a bad one.

"He went away to do his job." Haku smiled as he spotted a potato that looked like it had a face, "He's always going away on jobs. He said he'd bring me one day, when I get good enough." The sailor chuckled, remembering his own childhood when he'd begged his father to bring him along on his fishing trips. He knew how the youth felt, or sort-of knew anyways, as fishing wasn't nearly as horrific as killing people.

"I'm sure you'll get good enough one day," He said, chuckling. "And then maybe you'll even get better then your dad and become the best there is!" Haku smiled at the comment sadly.

"Naw! I'd never be as good as he is. I'm just going to be his to--helper, that's all." He found some things he'd liked from the piles and scurried back to the sailor, "My dad said I should try to get some supplies for our next trip. Is this enough money for these vegetables?"

The sailor looked at the coins in the boy's hands, the small sack of vegetables and fruits held in his hand, the dirty imprints on his cheeks and shoeless feet, and felt his soft-side tugging at him. "No, you don't have to pay-- just take it." Sure, the Village of the Mist was crumpling and food was becoming more scarce, but that wasn't any excuse to just take money from little children.

Haku looked unsure for a moment, before laughing, a wide smile stretching across his face. "Thank you, mister!" He put the sack of supplies on his lap as he squatted back down on the chair. The sailor and him comfortably sat together in each other's presence for perhaps an hour, the sailor continuing to count up his month's salaries while Haku waited patiently.

"Haku!" A deep voice suddenly resounded in the night and Haku jumped up ecstatically. The sailor looked up to see a menacing young man, probably no older then twenty-two or so, with bandages covering the entirety of his face except for his eyes and forehead, mist headband loosely bound across his brow and a large jounin jacket covering his torso. He was a shinobi? He sat up uneasily as Haku ran to Zabuza's side.

"Za--Dad!" Haku said happily without missing a beat. Zabuza patted his head fondly, and then noticed the bag of food in Haku's hands. At his questioning glance, the boy held it up for him to see, "The nice mister over there said we could take this for free! Isn't that nice?" Zabuza barely let a small smile twitch across his face. Eying the bag and quickly making the conclusion there was nothing dangerous in the thing, he nodded towards the sailor.

"Thank you for taking care of my son while I was gone," He said in a low voice, "Haku, say thank you." The image of a serious father.

"Thank you!" Haku said happily. The image of a naive young child who didn't know any better.

"No problem," The sailer said with an answering nod, "Cute kid you've got there."

"Hm." Zabuza barely acknowledged the last comment.

They turned away from the man together and slowly walked into the darkness, walked until the sailor could no longer see them any longer. Sighing, he took off his cap and smiled into the fleeting stars in the sky. Removing his feet from the desk, he got up and closed the door with a small 'click' noise.

"Cute kid," The sailor said fondly, "You're lucky to have him."

And the words hung, shimmering, in the night.

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Author's Notes: WEIRD! XD I'm going crazy. Even going as far as Haku and Zabuza! 'Breaking the Music' IS going to be updated (I'm writing this one and that one at the same time)


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